Sithole, Ndabaningi (1920–2000)

Zimbabwean politician. With Robert Mugabe he founded the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) in 1963, the members of which originally formed the core of the Rhodesian guerrilla movement. In 1964 he was arrested for alleged incitement to violence and was later accused of plotting political assassinations. In 1974 he was conditionally released in order to participate in talks about Rhodesia's (modern-day Zimbabwe) future. In 1975 he sought refuge abroad, returning in July 1977 to help bring about a Rhodesian settlement. Following independence he became leader of the Ndonga faction of ZANU. In 1998 he was sentenced to two years imprisonment for his involvement in an assassination attempt on Mugabe in August 1995; while appealing the sentence he was suspended from Parliament.

He studied in the USA and was a pastor of the Methodist Church. In 1959 he published African Nationalism.